Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge
by Greywolf
Summary: AU. It was a cold night in December of 1931 when the band at a little speakeasy in New York would find themselves caught up in a crime they didn't commit...
1. A Little Corner

**Author's Notes:** You would not believe how much of a relief it is just to get so much of this stuff down on paper (so to speak). Writing just gives me a good outlet for everything. Like flexing a muscle, I need to keep steadily working it to improve the condition and to keep things going the way I want them to.

Anyway, this one is a pulpy little number. I'll probably keep it short and sweet, no more than ten chapters or so to avoid dragging things out and messing myself up in the long run.

Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge

Chapter 1- A Little Corner

New York City, 1931. There was a little alleyway just off to the side of Kent Street. Go in about twenty feet and you find a small stairway leading to a basement door with an eyeslot and a hand-made sign. This was the Singin' Hound Lounge, a speakeasy famous for the atmosphere. It was small. At the most, it could hold about 25 people. The liquor was always good, though. The bartender was Sessoumaru, a tall handsome young man with platinum blonde hair and cold yellow eyes. The strange marks on his cheeks were scars from a run-in with a group of racketeers about 6 or 7 years back. Nobody knew about his adopted daughter, whom he was running this whole establishment to support.

Though this bartender was a big attraction for the ladies, most people came to the Singin' Hound to see his half-brother's band: Inuyasha and the Hounds. Inuyasha sang and played the saxophone. Miroku was on bass and harmonica. Shippo provided the drums. It was odd for women to play in a bar band at the time, but Kagome was there every night singing with Inuyasha and playing on the piano along with Sango playing the trumpet and guitar.

They all had their reasons for being there. Much like the customers. Whether it was in search of the romantic legacy of this lifestyle, the chance for escape, the chance to forget, or just a love of music and alcohol, they all had their reasons. Times were tough and didn't look like they were going to get any better. But at least at The Singin' Hound you didn't have to worry about that for a little while.

It was easy to lose yourself in there, even though it was a single room. The bar was to the right of the door with red-cushioned barstools. The tables were polished and stained oak with a single candle in the center of each with two chairs apiece. The walls were a soft red, and the floor hardwood. The only light came from the lights on the stage and the candles. The smoke from the various patrons' cigarettes also tended to make a sort of fog in the room.

The atmosphere was sad warm and inviting on that cold December night when Kikyo walked in. She came there to see Inuyasha and stayed until closing time to do just that. As Sesshoumaru began escorting the customers out, Kikyo approached the leader of the band. "Inuyasha, we need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Inuyasha said dismissively as he brushed aside a few dark locks. He didn't want to talk to her. They were through, and there was nothing more to be said about it.

"I want to apologize for the past," Kikyo continued anyway.

"Sorry," Inuyasha said, though he really didn't mean it. "But it's over." He began to pack up his saxophone, feeling the eyes of his bandmates on him.

"So that's it then?" Kikyo asked, trying to keep herself composed.

"That's it," Inuyasha said back flatly. "We had our chance, and it didn't work out."

"We could make it work," Kikyo said as if trying to convince herself along with Inuyasha.

Inuyasha just shook his head and fixed the tie on his suit. "Didn't you think that I'd moved on by now?" he drawled without making eye contact. That was a lie of course. The memory of when they both decided to break up still hurt. He wasn't sure why, but it stung all the same.

Kikyo looked over at Kagome and Inuyasha followed her gaze. All three of them realized that Kagome had been staring at Inuyasha the whole time. The two of them blushed at once and Kikyo frowned. "I see... I see." She looked on the verge of tears.

Inuyasha was tempted to say that it wasn't like that. But something held him back. He wasn't quite sure what, but he kept his mouth shut.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time then. Good bye, Inuyasha." With that, Kikyo turned on her heel and strode out of the bar, brushing past Sesshoumaru on her way out.

Once she was gone, Inuyasha rolled himself a cigarette and let the hot smoke fill his lungs.

"Why didn't you tell her the truth?" There was no accusation in Miroku's voice, merely a gentle curiosity.

Everyone stared for a moment as Inuyasha stood with his back turned to everyone before looking over his shoulder with one violet eye. His gaze slowly swept across them for a moment before he sighed and spoke around his cigarette. "I just wanted her to leave me alone," he said distantly.

**-x-**

**Author's Notes:** What do you think so far? Am I on to something here?


	2. A Dead Woman and a SetUp

**Author's Notes:** It's amazing what a completely fucked up sleep schedule can do for you. On the one hand, this makes it hard for me to get errands and stuff like that done. On the other, I write better when the sun's down. Go figure.

Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge

Chapter 2- A Dead Woman and a Set-Up

The next morning, Inuyasha was walking down the street toward the grocery store. The whole band was living out of a boarding house, and part of the way they paid for their room and board was by running errands for the old lady and her brother who owned the place. He rolled himself another cigarette and had just lit it up when two police officers approached him.

"Pardon me, sir. Are you Inuyasha Masters?" one of the officers asked.

Inuyasha gave them both a critical look for a moment. "That's what my mother calls me," he mumbled around his cigarette.

"We'd like you to come down to the station with us, please." The cop said it in such a straightforward, almost casual manner that Inuyasha nearly dropped his cigarette.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. "What the fuck did I do?"

"We need to ask you a few questions." With that the officer placed a firm hand on Inuyasha's shoulder and attempted to pull him toward the squad car.

Inuyasha forcefully shrugged the hand off and adjusted his tie. "I don't like to be touched," he grumbled. "When do I get my phone call? Miss Kaede's gonna want to know I'll be late coming home."

"When we get to the station," the first officer said as he escorted Inuyasha to the squad car.

**-x-**

Inuyasha sat at a table in a small bare room with two cops. He rolled himself another cigarette and broke the silence. "So, why am I here?"

"Do you know Miss Kikyo Anders?" the first cop asked.

"Yeah." There was a pause as the two cops waited for him to say something else. "Point?"

"She was found dead in an alley this morning," the second cop answered.

Inuyasha blinked in surprise and furrowed his brow. "Say that again?"

"She was killed by gunshot wound," the second cop continued. "As soon as we identified her, we started looking for all known relatives and associates. We were told she went to see you last night, so we told our patrolmen to look for a man by your description."

Inuyasha gave the man a critical look. "So I'm on the suspect list, then?"

"Mister Masters," the first cop chimed in, "until we have more leads, everyone around her that night is suspect. Now... did you meet with her last night?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha said simply.

"Where?"

"Some bar. I don't remember the place," he lied.

"How did she know to find you there?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "How the hell should I know? I think that woman was stalking me."

"What makes you say that?" the second cop asked.

"We broke up two months ago." Inuyasha paused to take a drag off his cigarette. "We didn't trust each other, so it didn't work out."

"Is that what she came to talk to you about?"

"Yeah. I told her that I wasn't going to change my mind, and she left."

"Did you see her after that?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, ask me again, Sam Spade. Maybe my answer'll magically change," he spat sarcastically.

"Sarcasm'll get you nowhere, kid," the first cop said. "Just answer the questions and you can get outta here."

Inuyasha made a sound that was between a sigh and a growl. "Look, I don't know who killed Kikyo, okay? I don't even know who'd want to. She never talked that much about herself."

"You don't seem too upset about it," the second cop remarked.

"I'm not a very emotional guy," Inuyasha drawled. "Dad always told me real men never cry."

The questioning afterward wasn't too bad and Inuyasha was let go. He grumbled irritably as he would have to walk back home in this cold weather. He didn't have the money for a taxi, and Miss Kaede would know if he spent any of her money on one. At least she had told him she would send out Miroku to get the groceries so he could come straight home.

The long walk gave him time to think. Who would want Kikyo dead? Inuyasha never figured her for the type to have enemies. He wondered if the police would catch her killer. The sleaze that did it would deserve whatever he got. Inuyasha just shook his head and pinned his fedora down against the cold winds. It was starting to snow, and there were still another ten blocks back to the boarding house. Inuyasha swore the universe was mocking him right now.

**-x-**

Kagome sat anxiously by the window in the kitchen, watching for Inuyasha. She nearly had kittens when Miss Kaede got off the phone to tell everyone that the police had taken in Inuyasha. But what could he have done? When he left for the store earlier, that was the first time in a week he had left Kagome's sight. It was the uncertainty that scared her so much. Not knowing what they took him away for.

Kagome nervously bit her lip as the snow started to pick up. Then she saw the figure in the grey suit and fedora trudging up the street with long black locks waving behind him in the wind. "Inuyasha's back!" she cried out happily and dashed to the front door.

As soon as Inuyasha let himself in, Kagome grabbed hold of him into a tight hug. "Never scare me like that again!" she shouted, mixing anger and relief.

"I... but I... I didn't..." Inuyasha struggled in vain to form a complete sentence. This probably would have gone on for a little longer if Sango didn't shout from the living room.

"Shut the damn door!"

Kagome immediately released Inuyasha and closed the door behind him. "What happened? Why did the police bring you in?"

Inuyasha heaved a growl/sigh and rubbed his arms to get some warmth back into them before taking off his hat and jacket. "Kikyo was murdered last night," he drawled. "Guess who they put on the suspect list? Yours truly."

Kagome gasped and put her hands to her mouth in shock. Kikyo was murdered? "Why do they suspect you?"

"'Cause I'm the last person she supposedly was with before her death," Inuyasha answered as he hung up his jacket. "It's bullshit, really. I'm no killer."

"I know," Kagome reassured him. "But who would do such a thing?"

"Hell if I know," Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome sighed lightly and fixed him with a level, yet concerned look. He stared back at her for a minute in confusion before finally shrugging. "What?"

"I worry about you, you know," Kagome explained. "I know this sounds silly, but I just wonder if whoever got rid of Kikyo will come after you next."

"Why would they want to?" Inuyasha asked with a half-shrug. "I don't really have a lot of enemies, you know. Just Koga, and he's just a son of a bitch. That reminds me, has he been harassing you again lately?"

"Don't try to change the subject," Kagome said firmly.

Inuyasha sighed and looked off to the side. At last he looked Kagome straight in the eye. "Kagome, listen... I'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere." His voice was unusually soft and caring. It was one of the few moments when he allowed himself to look vulnerable. It was one of the reasons Kagome had fallen for him.

She allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "Just don't scare me like that again. Now come on, we have to practice."

It was a shame the music would drown at the noise of the intruder that night as they shimmied up the gutter, slid open Inuyasha's window, and planted the black box underneath his bed before escaping the way they came.

**-x-**

The next morning, Miroku was helping with breakfast when Sango came downstairs. He set a mug of coffee down on the table for her and went back to helping Miss Kaede, though he was paying more attention to his band mate than the bacon in the skillet. "Sleep well?" Miroku asked conversationally.

"No more than usual," Sango grumbled as she sipped at her coffee. Miroku immediately knew what the problem was.

"That nightmare again, eh?" The question was rhetorical. Sango knew it and wouldn't answer. Miroku just sighed before turning the bacon over. "You know, it might help to tell me about it. You know I'm a good listener," he offered.

Sango just frowned and stared at the contents of her mug. Every morning it was the same routine. Sango would come down looking burnt out, Miroku would ask her to talk about it, she'd stay silent, and by noon it was forgotten. Miroku wouldn't say it out loud, but it bothered him that after three years, she still wouldn't open up to him. Confronting her about it would be a bad idea, however. You don't grow up the child of a champion lightweight boxer without picking up a few moves. And Sango was never squeamish about using them. Miroku had plenty of memories of black eyes to prove it.

Everyone else began slowly filing into the room. It was odd how everything settled into a pattern around here. Miroku and Miss Kaede were the first ones up every morning and prepared breakfast. Sango would come down and start with a cup of coffee and some ham and eggs. Shippo was next, and he always wanted milk and pancakes, no exceptions. After that, Kagome and Myouga came down within about two minutes of one another and would eat whatever was put in front of them. When Shippo was about half-way through his meal, Inuyasha would come down cross as a bear until he had eaten a little bit of everything then attempt to get to the shower before Shippo. Every morning, just like clockwork.

This morning would be different, however. As Inuyasha dug into his second plate, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it, you all finish eating," Miss Kaede said softly and stood up. Miroku couldn't help but smile at the thought of how motherly she was to the motley little crew of musicians. He didn't know where they'd be without her.

Voices came from the foyer. "Yes? Can I help you gentleman?" Kaede asked politely.

"NYPD, ma'am," came a stern voice. "We have a search warrant to investigate the property."

Everyone stopped eating immediately and looked to the door out of the kitchen. No one could see what was going on, but they couldn't bring themselves to move.

"I beg your pardon," Kaede said in a huff. "I run a clean boarding home here. Oh what grounds do you think you can come in here-" She was cut off by the stern voice again.

"We received an anonymous tip last night, ma'am. This is standard procedure, so please do not interfere. We don't want to be here anymore than you want us to."

There was a tense pause before Kaede answered, "Very well." She came back into the kitchen moments later as several police officers passed by through the hallway into the house and one entered the kitchen.

"What is the meaning of this," Myouga squeaked. He was trying to sound outraged, but the fact that he was less than 5 feet tall made it difficult to take him seriously.

"We received an anonymous tip last night that one of you is in possession of an illegal firearm and possibly involved in the murder of Kikyo Anders," the officer explained flatly.

"What?!" Inuyasha shouted in outrage as he swiftly stood up. "Who the hell told you something like that?"

"Calm down, Mister..."

"Masters," Inuyasha growled. "Inuyasha Masters. Your boys already brought me in for questioning yesterday on the same damn thing."

The cop didn't respond. He just proceeded to inspect the kitchen.

"I may be overstepping my bounds here," Shippo piped in, "but don't you guys find anything wrong with following an anonymous tip? I mean, jeeze, don't you read the dime novels?"

The officer just ignored Shippo and went about his inspection.

"I guess 'no' and 'no,'" Shippo grumbled and put his head in his hand.

Miroku didn't like this at all. He had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. Something about this whole situation seemed wrong.

A moment later, one of the cops came downstairs into the kitchen. "Lieutenant," he said curtly, to which the officer in the kitchen looked up. The two crossed over to one another and the cop whispered something in the lieutenant's ear.

"Which one of you has the room at the top of the stairs, second door on the left?" the lieutenant asked.

"That'd be me," Inuyasha answered.

The lieutenant nodded and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Inuyasha Masters, you're under arrest as a suspect in the murder of Kikyo Anders."

"What?!" Inuyasha shouted for the second time that morning.

"Officer Banks discovered a Thompson sub-machine gun under your bed in your room," the lieutenant explained. "We'll need to take you downtown."

"Inuyasha doesn't own a gun!" Kagome protested.

"Yeah!" Inuyasha said in his own defense. "I've never even handled a gun in my life. I'm a fucking musician!"

Heedless of Inuyasha's words, the two officers stepped up and put the handcuffs on Inuyasha without another word. The entire kitchen broke out into arguments, protests, and attempts to subdue the bedlam. Miroku's eyes widened when Inuyasha was escorted out the door followed by two officers, one carrying a black box, the other a Thompson gun wrapped in cloth so as not to interfere with fingerprinting.

They watched helplessly as Inuyasha was shoved into a police car and taken away amidst his tirade of obscenities. Kagome looked like she was about to burst out crying. "This can't be happening," she whispered hoarsely. Sango embraced her friend comfortingly as the tears began to fall.

"Something doesn't add up," Miroku said in a low voice. All eyes were on him suddenly. "Inuyasha hates guns. Hates everything about them. How the hell did that thing get in his room?"

"I don't know," Shippo said plainly as he scratched his head. "But Inuyasha was with all of us the night of the murder. He was never out of our sight. That's an air-tight alibi."

"You're right," Sango nodded in agreement. "We need to get to the station and clear him."

Miroku nodded and retreated inside to call a cab. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong however. Something was very, very wrong with this whole situation.

**-x-**

**Author's Notes:** This is the fastest I've ever gone to go into the action. I want to keep this story fast-paced and action-packed, so in the next chapter, the shit will start hitting the fan. Repeatedly.

**sapphirepink:** Make sense now? I just needed to establish an atmosphere and a set-up.

**ixchen:** If I've plotted this thing out right, you'll be asking that question a lot.

**waterlily:** I'm just having one of those moments of high productivity. I don't know how long this will last, but I might as well make the most of it.

**Cetacea92:** I think at this point, we can safely say that I'm sticking to InuKag. I just can't see the other pairing people coming up with working.

**Magellan-chan:** As they say on MST3K, this one's a little more "late night." There's going to be some black humor here and there, violence second only to Quentin Tarantino, sexual tension, and a few dirty jokes thrown in every now and again.

**Mimiko:** I look at that as a major accomplishment that I can get people into different things. It's also good to know that I don't have to confine myself to specific setting and genres. Much as I admire authors like Agatha Christie and Stephen King, I just prefer to have a large palette of subject material to work with whenever I want to.


	3. On the Run

**Author's Notes:** Like I said, I want to keep this one short and sweet. It's not so much a detective story, as a suspenseful adventure.

Moving on, we get to our first action sequence.

Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge

Chapter 3- On the Run

Inuyasha growled quietly as the police car drove off downtown. "I didn't fucking do anything," he said for about the twentieth time.

"We heard you, kid," the cop behind the wheel said exasperatedly.

"Then why am I still here?" he spat back only to be answered with silence.

"This is bullshit," Inuyasha grumbled and leaned back against the seat. How did that gun get in his room? Why was this happening to him? And why did the cops still think he murdered Kikyo. If there was a god, Inuyasha wondered just what he did to piss him off so much.

He stared out the window another minute before a black car began speeding up the lane beside them. Inuyasha furrowed his brow, absently wondering why those people were in such a hurry. When they pulled up beside the cop car, they slowed to match speed and every warning bell in Inuyasha's head went off at once.

**-x-**

Miroku leaned forward in his seat in the cab. They had told the driver to go as fast as he could downtown. Maybe they could get to the station before Inuyasha's temper landed him in more trouble. He was jammed into the car with Kagome, Sango, and Shippo, and the cramped quarters only made the tension that much worse.

"So what'cha wanna get downtown so badly for, huh?" the cabby asked in a thick Brooklyn accent.

"We have to bail a friend of ours out," Shippo explained.

"What he do?" the cabby asked as they rounded a sharp turn.

"Nothing," Kagome asserted firmly.

They rounded another turn and the cab screeched to an abrupt. "Holy mother of God!" the cabby shouted.

Miroku looked ahead. In the middle of the street were two cars. One was pitch black and several men in suits and fedoras were firing on the other car, which was a police car. Both had stopped in the middle of the road at odd angles, and a gunfight was ensuing. In the back seat of the car, Miroku caught a glimpse of a head with black hair before it ducked again at the sound of more gunshots. "Inuyasha's in that car!" Miroku shouted.

"You want 'im, you can have 'im!" the cabby shouted and jumped out of the cab, running in the opposite direction of the gunfight.

"Hey!" Shippo squeaked. "Hey come back here, you yellow son of a bitch!"

"Damn!" Sango cursed as she squirmed her way out of the car. "We have to do something!"

No sooner had she said that, than the gunfight ended with both cops being killed. The sound of sirens was not long to follow, and two of the men in the black car jumped and grabbed Inuyasha from the police car.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted desperately as she saw the longhaired young man being dragged into the gunmen's car.

"Kagome!" he shouted back as he turned his head to her. Despite his attempts to struggle, he was dragged into the car, which promptly sped off before the doors were even closed.

Miroku finished squirming out and jumped into the driver's seat. "Get in!" he shouted in a commanding voice.

Everyone complied and Miroku took off in pursuit of the black car. Traffic was against them as he weaved one way then the other in pursuit of the gunmen. Unfortunately, there was no license plate on the car, so if they lost them, there would be no way to track them.

They raced up to the crest of a hill, and for a second the car went airborne with cries alarm form everyone until they hit solid ground again and continued pursuit.

"Just what do we do when we catch them?" Shippo asked from the back seat.

"Good question," Miroku answered. "Ask me again in five minutes."

"You don't have a plan?!" Sango yelled in disbelief.

"Give me a break!" Miroku shouted as he glared at Sango from the corner of his eye. "It's not like I do this often!"

"Incoming!" Shippo squeaked followed by a scream of alarm from Kagome.

Miroku looked ahead just in time to see that he had drifted into the wrong lane and swerved just in time to miss another car. "That was close."

"I can't believe you're the only one of us who knows how to drive," Sango huffed as she watched the black car like a hawk.

"Could we please have this conversation later?" Miroku growled through clenched teeth.

At that moment, one of the gunmen leaned out the passenger's side front window with a Tommy gun and turned to face them. Miroku felt his jaw drop and swerved hard to try and avoid the assault of bullets coming at them. "Who the hell are these guys?" Miroku thought out loud.

**-x-**

Inuyasha ground his teeth as he sat and watched one of his captors open fire on the cab chasing them. He knew his band mates were in there. Kagome was in there. He snarled and felt the barrel of a gun pressed to his temple. "Don't do anythin' stupid," the man drawled. "Else we're gonna write your obituary with a Chicago typewriter. Capiche?"

Inuyasha only growled in response. With his hands cuffed and these thugs holding him at gunpoint, he was going to have to outwit them. He started watching the streets carefully, suppressing a sigh of relief when the guy up front had to reload his gun. They were coming up to a familiar path. Inuyasha knew this city well, having lived her his whole life. The car swerved right and barreled down a one-way street that ended in an intersection. "You're gonna want to turn left there," Inuyasha said flatly.

"Forget that," the gunman in the passenger's seat said. "If this guy says turn left, he's tryin' to trick us. We go right." How stupid could you get?

Predictably, the driver turned right. Inuyasha ducked down in his seat as everyone else in the car screamed in alarm and the driver swerved, too late to stop the car from smashing its side into the brick wall only fifteen feet past the intersection.

**-x-**

Kagome heard a crash and gasped as they rounded the corner and screeched to a halt to see the car wrecked up against a wall. The rear door burst open with a kick from Inuyasha who then staggered out with his hands still cuffed behind his back. "God damn, that hurt!" he barked.

Kagome jumped out of the car and ran over to Inuyasha, grabbing onto him like a lifeline. "Oh god, Inuyasha, are you alright?" She wanted nothing more right now than to know he wasn't hurt.

Inuyasha was taken by surprise with her sudden appearance, but recovered quickly. "I'll live," he grumbled. "Who the fuck are these people?"

"I don't know," Miroku deadpanned as he scratched his head. They clearly were in a big rush to get you somewhere.

"Now what do we do?" Sango asked.

"I'm not going back to the police," Inuyasha growled. "They still think I killed Kikyo."

"It looks like someone's trying to set you up," Shippo remarked with a thoughtful look on his face. "It's like in the radio dramas or the detective comics. They frame you for something you didn't do, and now they make it look like you're trying to escape."

"That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard!" Inuyasha snapped.

"You got any better ideas?" Shippo retorted with an arched eyebrow.

Inuyasha just looked away and said nothing.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Shippo said smugly.

"We need to get out of here," Miroku chimed in. "We can't go to the police right now. If Shippo's right, they'll probably just toss Inuyasha away without waiting for us to verify his alibi."

"We better lay low then," Sango picked up. "We can't go back to Miss Kaede's. They're bound to find us there."

"Well then where the hell are we gonna go?" Inuyasha snapped irritably.

There was a tense silence before Kagome spoke up. "There is one person we can turn to. I'm not looking forward to it, but he'll help us."

Inuyasha stared at her in silence for a moment. As soon as he figured out whom she was talking about, he was going to have a fit. "Oh no! No, no, no! No way in the world!" Called that one.

"Inuyasha, it's not like we have a choice," Kagome insisted. "Koga may be a pain, but he's not going to say no to _me_ of all people."

Inuyasha's eye began to twitch, but Kagome knew that just like Koga, he wouldn't be able to say no to her no matter how hard he tried. Those two were more alike than they cared to admit.

At last, Inuyasha growl/sighed in resignation. "Fine," he huffed. "But if he touches you, I'll tear both of his hands off. Speaking of which..." With that, Inuyasha turned around and waved his cuffed hands behind him. "Could somebody get these damn things offa me?!"

Kagome heaved a sigh. It seemed they were really up a creek this time. This was going to be a long day.

**-x-**

**Author's Notes:** Like I said, short and sweet. I'm building this story simply on the formula of, "What cool thing do I want to do here, and how do I segue into the next scene?" Kind of like how North by Northwest was written. God damn, that was an awesome movie.

On a side note, the music I had going through my head while writing this chapter was the song from the car chase scene in the beginning of The Castle of Cagliostro. Just FYI.

**Mimiko:** I'll take that as a good sign the story is as gripping as I want it to be. I always liked the Jazz Age. Greed, gangsters, the Great Depression... It's a spawning ground for good action stories.

**kireinoir:** I'm trying to keep Inuyasha close to canon, while still adding in elements that would come naturally to him being a jazz hedonist in the era of Prohibition.

**Fushigi Aoi Tenshi:** Just be patient. Things will become clear soon.

**shaid:** To be honest, I neglected to do a lot of research on 30's-era forensics. All I know is that there are still no Miranda rights.

**Jurei:** You really don't see enough pulp fiction around here, do you? It truly is an under appreciated genre. Ironic how few people pay it much mind, considering it is one of the few genuinely American moments in literary culture.

**Varethane:** Again, it really is a shame how under appreciated genres like this really are. I was so disappointed to hear about Will Eisner's death last week. I would have loved to have met him.

**Scherezade7:** Again, this isn't so much a detective story as a pulp fiction criminal thriller. Either way, there's still so much to work with, it eludes me how so many people just breeze over it without a second thought.


	4. Hideout

**Author's Notes:** As I write this note out, it might be another couple of days before this chapter sees the light of day. My thoughts are in a jumble as I scramble to get ready to go back to school. I would also dump my political rants here, but I somehow doubt many of you would want to hear me shooting my mouth off.

Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge

Chapter 4- Hideout

"... And that's how we got here," Kagome finished explaining. "We need you to try and figure out who set Inuyasha up so we can clear him." They were all sitting in the basement of Kouga's home. He was the best fence in town for bootleg liquor, smuggled goods, and everything in between. He kept a close-knit organization of contacts and allies throughout the city that he called his "packmates." He had been supplying the Singin' Hound Lounge with their drinks ever since it opened. Unfortunately, he had also set his sights on Kagome and didn't seem to take "no" for an answer.

Koga leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the table. "I see. Well, it shouldn't be hard for my boys to figure out what's going on. It'll cost you of course."

At that, Inuyasha let out a snarl. Kagome knew exactly what Koga had in mind, and apparently so did her band mate. "We'll discuss that when and if you get us out of this mess," Kagome stated firmly. "Do we have a deal?" She knew the others would be looking at her in shock. This was a side to herself she seldom showed anymore. But this was really the only choice. Arguing with Koga would be pointless. If she refused him, they'd just waste valuable time until he caved in. If she agreed, Inuyasha's protective side would kick in and he and Koga would be at each other's throats.

Kagome liked to think that Inuyasha's protectiveness of her was a sign that he was interested in her as more than a friend, but this wasn't really the time or the place to be thinking about her own confusing love life. Well... what passed for one, anyway.

"Fair enough," Koga said at last. "You'd make a shrewd crime lord, Kagome," he said in a flattering tone with a sexy smile.

Kagome just smiled nervously while Inuyasha fumed quietly.

Shippo, who had only joined the band a few months ago and had never met Koga before, leaned over to Inuyasha with one hand to the side of his mouth and whispered loud enough to be heard, "Regular sugar daddy, ain't he?"

Inuyasha snorted in amusement with a snide-looking smirk while Koga turned to glare at the young drummer. He seemed to be sizing Shippo up at first. "How old are you, kid? 15? 16?"

"I'm 20, you rube," Shippo snapped indignantly. It sounded almost comical in his reedy voice. "I'm just kinda short. Not hittin' on all sixes there, are we?" he retorted, tapping on his temple with a raised eyebrow.

Koga narrowed his eyes and glanced over at Kagome. "Runt's got a hell of a mouth on him."

"I'm sitting _right here_, you know."

"As much as I'm enjoying this witty tit-for-tat," Miroku interrupted, "I believe we should all get back to the subject at hand."

"Right," Koga said as he stood up. "I'll put in a call to Glen, Mike, Vince, and Jeff. If there's anything worth knowing in this city, they can find it." With that he walked out up the stairs. "Make yourselves at home," he called out over his shoulder.

"Why do I feel like I just put my soul in the hands of the devil?" Inuyasha grumbled.

"It's not as if we have a choice," Sango remarked. "Even if we do clear you, our little car chase is going to cost a pretty penny to bail us all out."

"I'll talk with Sesshoumaru about that," Inuyasha said dismissively as he got up and went to the bar. He poured himself a shot of whiskey and looked over to the others. "A good band like us is harder to find than some people think. Sessh won't want to lose his main attraction."

"Man's got a point," Miroku added. "We'd be in debt to Sesshoumaru for a while, but we regularly sing for our supper anyway."

Kagome sighed and slouched in her chair. This was a fine kettle of fish. Inuyasha was framed, the rest of them were on the run, they owed Koga a favor, and pretty soon they'd owe Sesshoumaru money. She considered muttering about how it couldn't get any worse, but she didn't want to take a chance and jinx it. The universe was just cruel enough to do it.

Kagome looked up and folded her arms over her chest as she watched the others. Shippo was wandering the room, looking for something to do. He began skimming a bookshelf crammed full of enough dime novels to fill a newsstand. Sango was sitting quietly in thought. Inuyasha was taking a second shot of whiskey while Miroku walked over to join him. Kagome was desperately trying to stave off boredom as the seconds dragged on into minutes.

"While we're waiting," Miroku chimed in after a brief silence, "does anyone have any idea who would want to do this to us?"

"I though we already covered this," Inuyasha grumbled. "I don't start trouble unless I know can end it."

"What if you made a mistake and didn't end it?" Sango asked with a thoughtful expression. "Is there anybody you've crossed lately? At all?"

"Keh," Inuyasha snorted. "The last bit of trouble I got into was that black eye I gave Koga three months ago."

Kagome remembered that well. Koga had personally delivered a supply of whiskey to the Lounge and had tried once again to pick her up. After twenty minutes of trying to persuade him to leave, Kagome was about to brutally blunt with Koga when Inuyasha walked up and decked him across the face as if he were swatting a fly. Though Sesshoumaru hadn't shown any major reaction other than a slight frown, he said afterward that if it were medically possible to die of embarrassment, he would have been in his grave after that.

"I gotta give it to you, dog face," Koga haughtily remarked as he came down the stairs, "you do got a mean right hook." He had apparently overheard that part of the conversation. "Just don't get any ideas about trying it again."

"I'll keep that in mind," Inuyasha droned coldly and took his third shot of whiskey.

"Just how much of that can you pack away?" Koga asked curiously.

"Let me put it this way," Inuyasha said with a smirk, "I've never lost a drinking contest yet."

Koga shook his head slightly and looked around the room at the others. "Well, I've got my packmates out on the streets. They'll ferret out your answers by tomorrow night at the latest."

"Can you ask them to pick up the new issue of The Shadow?" Shippo asked off-handedly as he continued perusing the bookshelf. "It came out yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to make it to the newsstands."

"You should have told me that when I was callin' them," Koga deadpanned, giving a flat look to the back of Shippo's head.

"Ooh, you've got back issues of Weird Tales?!" Shippo piped up excitedly. "Bees knees!" He grabbed several issues of the horror comic off the shelves and darted toward the table to start reading.

"Kid's easily amused, isn't he?" Koga quipped at Kagome, clearly trying to bait the young drummer into another argument.

"Can't talk now," Shippo rattled off quickly in a clipped voice. "Comics."

Koga shook his head with a sigh of exasperation. "I'll bring you all some bedding and pillows. Until we figure out the score, mi casa es su casa." Unfortunately for Koga, he wasn't nearly as charming as he thought he was. Kagome was never really impressed by his excessive displays of flattery and bravado. At least when Inuyasha started beating his chest, it was because he had a short temper. Well, that was an understatement. He blew like a volcano regularly and had more pet peeves than the most irritable nitpickers.

Still, he seemed self-aware of his flaws. Kagome could remember every time he'd lost his temper with her in the ten years they'd known each other, and every time it was only a matter of twenty-four hours tops before he apologized in his own dysfunctional way. She smiled softly at the memory of the, "Shut up and let me protect you!" incident seven years ago as she glanced over at Inuyasha and Miroku, both of whom were currently humming, whistling, snapping, and tapping their feet as they tried to work out the melody to one of the new original songs they'd all been working on. Inuyasha called it Heat in the Key of Blue.

Kagome shook her head to clear it before anyone caught her staring. A glance at the recessed window off to the side showed that it was getting dark out. Normally, she was used to staying up late, but the day had been so hectic and confusing... Breakfast interrupted by cops, Inuyasha framed for murder, a car chase, spending most of the day trying to hide from the police long enough to get to Koga, and now here... Hard to believe it was sunset already. Sleep would be welcome.

**-x-**

Inuyasha spent the next hour or two taking shots and working out a few songs with Miroku and Sango. If he got out of this alive, he could make a whole LP about this experience.

Occasionally, Inuyasha would glance over at Kagome as she dozed on the bedding Koga had provided. He hated that son of a bitch, but damned if he knew exactly why he felt so possessive of Kagome. Her presence was enough to set him on edge for the last few months, but he wasn't so sure that was a bad thing. They would argue endlessly about music, movies, Vaudeville, the virtues of specific drinks, whether or not it would rain... the most unimportant bullshit in the world. But if he ever really got her angry, he would desperately struggle for some way to apologize that didn't compromise his male pride.

God his love life was so confusing. He thought he and Kikyo could have been happy together, but after a couple of months, he knew it wasn't going to work. She just... didn't have that enthusiasm for life. She didn't know how to enjoy herself. Not like Kagome could. It was a familiar train of thought that led to the same dead ends every time. Inuyasha really didn't want to have to think about it right now.

Shippo abruptly yawned as he tossed down another comic book and stretched out. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and looked at the comics Shippo had already gone through and saw that many were still unread. "You only went through half the stack and you're calling it a night?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, but if I read another issue, the sight of monsters and zombies might start to bore me, and..." At that Shippo paused and shook his head as if such a thing was unthinkable. "I just can't let that happen... No..." With that, he kicked off his shoes and claimed a random bedspread.

Inuyasha heaved a sigh and unbuttoned his shirt. "May as well get some sleep ourselves," he mumbled as he went to a bedspread next to Kagome. "Because when I find out who the bastard was that set me up... I'm going to make them regret ever being born."

**-x-**

**Author's Notes:** I picked a bad time to fuck up my sleep schedule. Oh well...

**kireinoir:** I hope this chapter clarifies the Inuyasha/Kagome relationship a little more.

**sapphirepink:** Hate to disappoint on the seduction part, but I have some interesting things planned for how Inuyasha and Koga interact later on. Same with Lights, Camera, Action!.

**Father Malvado:** This is basically a crime thriller. It's supposed to be action-packed, tense with only a few chapters for catharsis, and since it's pulp fiction our heroes will get out through more than a fair amount of dumb luck and ridiculous stunts.

**Scherezade7:** As I said, you don't see enough pulp fiction these days. Though now that Sky Captain is out on DVD, I need to make a trip to Suncoast...

**Jurei:** Shippo is where I really get to have fun with the Jazz Age slang. I can see him being the one who uses more of it than anyone else in the group. This chapter in particular is loaded with it.

**Magellan-chan:** It's kind of assumed they get the cuffs off as you can tell. And this chapter was only a breather. All hell will break loose very soon.

**Mimiko:** I hope you like gunfights, too. (hint, hint)

**Alfred:** It won't take nearly so long to get anything updated. But it will be slow. I have a busy course load this semester.

**Maiden of the Moon:** For now, I have to concentrate what little money I have on covering basic necessities at school. My credit card only goes so far.

**Fanny T:** I realized I neglected some description on Shippo, so I made up for it here. And yes it is jazz they're playing. Back in the 30's, you could not call yourself a music fan if you did not listen to jazz.


	5. Bloodshed at the Docks

**Author's Notes:** Still not much going on. Mostly just schoolwork. I'm going to need to get out and do something soon.

Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge

Chapter 5- Bloodshed at the Docks

Sango found herself abruptly shaken from her sleep by Koga crashing down the basement steps with all the grace of a charging rhino. "Get up!" he barked, clearly upset about something. It was partly a blessing in disguise, as it saved her from having to relive her recurring nightmare that she was about halfway through when he barged in.

It didn't take long for everyone to rouse themselves from sleep. "What the hell's the rush?" Inuyasha grumbled as he rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes.

Koga paused as if he would hate himself for what he was about to say and looked off to the side. "Glen and Vince are dead," he snapped.

That chased the last of the sleep from Sango's system. "What?" She hadn't known them, but Koga treated every one of his pack mates like brothers. If two of them were dead, there would be hell to pay. And given the circumstances, it would probably have something to do with all of them.

"Mike found them this morning," Koga explained, hands balling into fists at his sides. "Shot in the back by choppers... We know who did it. The same guy who murdered Kikyo."

That got Inuyasha's attention. "The real killer? Who is it?"

"Name's Naraku," Koga growled as he sat at the table and raked a hand back through his now-loose hair. "Naraku Hansen. He runs a smuggling operation I fence for. But I guess he's wants to step up in the world.

"Glen and Vince managed to report in before they were killed. Naraku wants to take over my operations along with several others in the city. It's said he hands out shards of an oriental jewel as a marker to those who gain his favor, and that's how he's able to tell the loyalists from... fellahs like me."

"What's this got to do with us?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

"Everything," Koga barked with equal impatience. "Kikyo was one of Naraku's loyalists for a time, but she broke contact with him months ago. He must have decided to knock her off when it was convenient and set some rube up to take the fall. Guess who he picked."

Sango decided to cut in before Inuyasha rose to the bait. "So this Naraku framed Inuyasha and wants to take over your business?"

Koga tapped the tip of his nose to confirm her thoughts. "Once he learns that all of you are in this deep with me, you'll be next on his list of people to be dealt with. Bastard doesn't like leaving loose ends."

"So what do we do?" Miroku asked calmly.

"Fight back," Koga stated plainly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's not like we can go to the police on this one. Price you pay for this lifestyle."

Silence reigned over the room for a moment. Sango didn't like this at all. "Just how are we supposed to fight back?" she tentatively asked.

Koga leveled his gaze at her, remaining silent for a moment. "This is war," he spoke at last, his tone carrying a solemn finality. "I'm supposed to meet a few of Naraku's boys at the waterfront tonight regarding some smuggled goods he wants me to ship out of town. But I can guarantee you that his intention now is to get _me_ out of town. In a pine box."

"Well then just don't go," Shippo exasperatedly snapped.

"Doesn't work that way, kid," Koga growled. "If I don't show, he'll know that I figured out his plan. Since he's already made a move, I have to strike now before he gets another chance."

"I really don't like where this is going," Kagome mumbled in a worried voice.

"Sorry, Kagome," Koga apologized gravely. "But I don't have a choice. I'm going down there tonight to take out Naraku's boys personally. It's the least I can do for Glen and Vince. Any of you going with me?"

"I'll go," Inuyasha volunteered first. "This is personal."

"I'm going with you," Kagome declared, putting her hand on Inuyasha's shoulder.

"Bullshit!" Inuyasha snapped. "You're in this deep enough! You're staying here."

"And let you go on your own?" Kagome shot back. "Not a chance. I'm not about to let you die for a vendetta."

Sango hung her head with a long-suffering sigh. There they go again. Those two argued over everything. At least this time Inuyasha had a good reason to disagree. Normally he just did it to be contrary.

"Much as I hate to admit it," Koga butted in, "Inuyasha's right. I'm not going to put you further into the line of fire."

"You stay out of this!" Kagome and Inuyasha barked at the same time, taking Koga by complete surprise. The fact that they had spoken in unison didn't even seem to register to the two as they turned back on one another and continued their argument, which soon turned into a shouting match.

"It's like watching a force of nature," Miroku commented as he watched the verbal battle unfold.

"There's a song in that somewhere," Shippo remarked off-handedly.

"Might as well make ourselves comfortable," Sango said at last as she settled into a chair to watch. Everyone but Inuyasha seemed to realize the extent of Kagome's feelings for him. Well... Koga seemed pretty blind, too, but that was beside the point. Inuyasha on the other hand was harder to read most of the time. He kept his emotions very guarded and withdrawn. It was moments like this however that the barriers those two put up started to breakdown. If they weren't so caught up in yelling at each other, they would notice it.

"Don't you fucking get it?" Inuyasha roared as he grasped fistfuls of his hair in frustration. "If you died, I'd never be able to live with myself!"

"How do you think I feel?" Kagome practically screamed. "Didn't it ever occur to you that it matters to me if you get hurt?"

Ah, right on cue. They were like the protagonists in one of Shippo's comics. Obviously romantically drawn to each other, constantly bickering like a married couple, and so oblivious to the whole thing it made observers want to bludgeon them both over the head and scream at them to just go off and neck somewhere. In a way though Sango rather envied them. She wished she had someone who cared about her that way. She had always entertained the possibility of Miroku, but he was as secretive about his feelings as Inuyasha. Perhaps that was what she found alluring about him. He was detached, but in a more docile, secure way than many other men she had known in her life.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, not wanting that particular train of thought to go any further. "Listen, maybe we should all go. Strength in numbers, right?"

"Sango has a point," Miroku remarked and held his chin between his thumb and forefinger with a look of deep thought on his face. "We can all hold our own in a fight. Inuyasha and I have had to double as bouncers on more than one occasion."

Inuyasha and Kagome fell silent as Koga watched them all with a critical eye for a moment. "Fine," he growled at last, clearly not too happy with the conclusion, but accepting it anyway. "Let me get you some guns and we'll head out at sunset."

"Guns?" Inuyasha asked in disgust. "You kiddin' me."

Koga arched a brow and sneered. "What did you expect? I was gonna spit watermelon seeds at 'em?"

Inuyasha snorted and crossed his arms. "Guns are for people too weak to use their fists. If I want to take somebody down, I'll do it face to face."

"Big talk," Koga replied dismissively. "I got news for you, though. The guys at the warehouse tonight will be armed and ready. You won't get close enough to punch them. And it doesn't matter what you say to a bullet, it's still gonna blow your head open. So unless you've learned how to punch bullets away, you better shut up and take the chopper I give you." With that, he turned on his heel and strode off, taking the steps two at a time.

Sango pursed her lips. She had gotten involved in bar fights before, but this was another matter entirely. Of course, there wasn't much left to lose at this point. Best to go down fighting.

**-x-**

Inuyasha quietly fumed as he pulled the car Koga had loaned him up to the warehouse. There were already three cars parked outside, and Koga was pulling up beside them. The plan was that Koga would go in with Miroku and Sango, then Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo would attack as soon as he said "hot damn." They all climbed out of the cars and nodded silently to one another to show that they were ready.

Inuyasha pressed his back to the wall, awkwardly gripping the Tommy gun in his hands. Kagome and Shippo lucked out and got Mauser pistols. They watched as Koga walked up to the entrance with Kagome and Sango in tow. Inuyasha strained his ears to listen.

"Koga, you made it," came the voice of a stranger from inside. "Pack mates of yours?"

"Yeah," Koga responded. "New blood. Good timing considering what happened to Glen and Vince."

"Were those the two stiffs mentioned in the paper this morning?" the stranger asked.

"Yeah," Koga answered, his voice clearly containing a dangerous edge. "But that's not important right now. You got the antiques you wanted me to take off your hands?"

"Right this way."

"Well, hot damn." That was the cue.

Inuyasha took off running toward the door with Kagome and Shippo behind him. Gunshots started ringing out before they even got there, and Inuyasha skidded to a halt as several bullet holes appeared in the wall just ahead of him. He bit back his surprise and continued for the door, jumping into the room and pointing his gun forward to look for a target, but nobody was visible.

"Get down, god damnit!" Koga shouted from off to the side.

Inuyasha realized that in the few seconds it had taken them to reach the door, everyone had already ducked for cover. The warehouse was packed full of crates of recently shipped-in goods, several now sporting bullet holes. A gunshot rang out, and he felt a hot wind streak past his head. He heard Kagome and Shippo let out strangled cries of surprise before they all dove for cover.

When Inuyasha looked up, Kagome was gone and he was next to Koga who was kneeling behind a stack of crates with a Smith Wesson revolver. He stood up slightly and took a shot. "Okay, there's six of us and eight of them," he ground out.

"Eight?" Inuyasha asked rhetorically.

"Well, it _was_ nine a second ago," Koga added with a smirk. He peered out from behind the crate again that dropped onto his stomach with several choice obscenities as a hail of bullets whizzed over them.

"Shit!" Inuyasha roared. "Kagome! Where are you?" His shouting was drowned out by the gunshots and their echoes off the concrete walls.

"Damn, they've got us outgunned," Koga hissed. "We need a plan."

"Better start thinkin' fast," Inuyasha hissed back. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I've never fired a gun in my life."

Several more gunshots rang out followed by a shrill scream that Inuyasha immediately realized was Kagome. Something inside him snapped, and he gripped the handles of his Tommy gun until his knuckles went white. "But you gotta start some time!" he roared.

A moment later, the shooting stopped, and Inuyasha stood up with his gun leveled. He saw three men hiding behind a set of crates getting ready to fire at what he presumed was Kagome's hiding place. With that, he opened fire. The recoil forced him to take a step back, but he delivered a spray of bullets toward the three gunmen. Part of him only cared about making them pay for hurting Kagome. The other, less emotional part of him was amazed at how easy this thing was to use and how much damage it could do. Inuyasha only stopped when he felt Koga pull him back down.

"You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?" he snapped angrily. "You're wasting ammo and making yourself a sitting duck."

Inuyasha just made a rude gesture and snorted. "I got three of 'em. You?"

That shut Koga up momentarily. "Where are the others? Sango and Miroku took off in the opposite direction I did."

They were interrupted by another volley of gunfire. "Five more to go," Inuyasha growled as he began slinking away, trying to get closer to where he thought Kagome was.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Koga barked.

Inuyasha didn't even dignify him with a response. He just kept going. He spotted the crates where the three men he shot had been firing on earlier and dove out from behind his cover to make a run for it. A bullet ricocheted off the floor in front of him, bringing Inuyasha to a halt. He turned to his left to see one of the men pointing a pistol right at him.

Inuyasha leveled his Tommy gun and hoped he was faster, when he heard Sango let out a loud yell of exertion, and a ten-foot-tall stack of crates behind the gunman facing Inuyasha suddenly fell over. The man looked back and screamed in alarm, trying to get out of the way, but was too late. He was buried under the falling tower boxed goods.

Sango stood behind the fallen crates, absently rubbing her shoulder with a frown before running up to meet Inuyasha.

He wordlessly jerked his head in the direction of Kagome's hiding place and they bolted for it. More gunshots rang out, these ones targeted right at them. "Damn fools," he heard Koga shout as he provided cover fire.

Inuyasha and Sango both leaped over the crates at the same time and landed on either side of Kagome who had her hand pressed against her left upper arm, which was bleeding. "Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed in alarm.

She had been surprised by their sudden appearance, but relaxed visibly when she realized it was them. "I got winged by a bullet," she explained through clenched teeth.

"We need to stop the bleeding," Sango firmly stated. "I need a compress and something I can use as a bandage."

Inuyasha took off his tie and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. Sango had learned first aid from her father, so he knew to trust her judgment. "Will this do?"

"For now," Sango responded evenly and began dressing Kagome's wound.

"Where are Miroku and Shippo?" Kagome asked through clenched teeth.

"No clue," Sango said flatly as she focused on bandaging the wound. "Miroku and I got separated after we ducked for cover. Said he had a plan."

"I lost sight of Shippo when we came in," Inuyasha admitted.

Several gunshots rang out throughout the warehouse and Koga let out several choice curses. "Three more to go," They heard him shout.

Inuyasha hefted his gun when two more shots shook the crates the three of them were hiding behind. "We need to finish this now." He twisted around the corner and looked for a target. One of the gunmen was trying to make a getaway to a side entrance, and Inuyasha took the opportunity to pick him off. Before he got a chance to find another target, an ominous click came from the Tommy gun. "No," he breathed. "No you don't!" He gave it a quick shake and tested the trigger several more times. Out of ammo. "Damn! Damn, damn, damn!"

"You're out of bullets?" Kagome yelled in alarm.

"You want to tell the whole world?" Inuyasha snapped back as one of the two remaining enemies fired on their hiding place again. "Sango. Cover me. This piece of junk is still good for one thing." With that, he skulked off in a semi-circle. He sneaked around as quickly as he could, diving past gaps in the mounds of crates. He just had to get around to the bastard shooting at them.

Inuyasha peered around a corner and saw the back of the gunman as he ducked behind a rectangular box when Sango fired another shot at him. A moment passed before he stood up and aimed his two revolvers. Inuyasha seized the chance. Gripping the Tommy gun by the muzzle, he charged up behind the man who turned just in time to see the stock of the sub-machine gun rush toward his face.

Inuyasha spit on the unconscious form of his opponent. "One left."

"And I'm getting out of here," came a stranger's voice. Inuyasha looked over to where the voice came from. The last of the gunmen stepped out of the shadows with Miroku in front of him. The latter had his hands up behind his head with a gun pointed to his back. "Nobody move, or he dies."

"My plan kind of... backfired," Miroku explained flatly.

**-x-**

**Author's Notes:** This is the first time I've ever written out a gunfight, so it's not as elaborate as many of the other fight scenes I've come up with. I guess I just need to do more so that I can get better at it.

Interestingly, finishing up that old To Hell and Back project that I had nearly forgotten about helped me overcome a block that was setting in. It probably also helped that I just got Sky Captain on DVD. I don't care what anyone says, that movie kicked ass.

I've also got a new project lined up. January 2006, a friend of mine and I are going to be producing our first featurette. He wanted to do a comedy, but my specialty lies more in action/adventure and horror, so we came to a compromise and decided to do a vignette parodying H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. I have several hooks I'm going to pitch to him this week, work on an outline from there, and hopefully get the script done by the end of the semester. We've shopped the idea around to various departments on the campus, and have managed to generate a lot of excitement about this project. I'll keep you posted on any further developments over the next 11 months.

**kireinor:** You'll see eventually. Like I said before, I want to keep this story short and fast so it doesn't eat up too much of my time. As I type this, there are a lot of other things I _should_ be doing, but am not.

**xSilverShadowsx:** Competition, yes, but I think we all know that he'll get the girl in the end.

**Magellan-chan:** You get the broken-loose hell, and as a bonus you also get an old-fashioned pulp fiction cliffhanger.

**Jurei:** You got your little reprieve and it's right back to the action. The tricky thing about pulp is keeping the roller coaster suspense feeling going across the whole story arc. Even when the characters get a moment to catch their breath, you have to feel a sense of urgency. That's not easy to create.

**Mimiko:** There's the gunfight I promised. Like I said, that's the first time I've written one, so I hope it turned out okay.

**Fanny T:** I don't have that album, and I don't think I'll be able to get it for a while. Next month is Sims 2: University and Freedom Force 2. Combine that with Judas Priest's new album, Angel of Retribution and a new album by Belgian hard rock band El Guapo Stuntteam and my bank account is pretty much... raped, mutilated, and executed.

On one final sidenote, what the fuck is wrong with this site? As I'm typing this, I had to go back and fix the chapter because even though everything was fine on my harddrive, the document manager here decided to erase more of the punctuation. Jesus tap-dancing Christ. Who do I complain to? The document manager on this site is becoming more of a hassle than a help and I wonder if anybody's told the admins this yet. 


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